Midnight Stroll
by Alessandra Moore
Summary: All around them bad things are happening... someone has opened the Chamber of Secrets and Lily has been petrified. James visits her every night. Hope the story ends up better than this summary : . Please give me a chance.
1. Just like every night

**Obviously: I don't own this. **

As the tiny alarm clock by his bedside struck twelve, James slipped out of his large four poster bed, already dressed. Grabbing his wand and slippers, throwing on his invisibility cloak, to the sound of Sirius' snores, he walked quietly but purposefully towards the staircase that led to the common room. He knew he shouldn't go. He knew it. He knew he should get back into his warm bed and forget Lily Evans as she had forgotten him. He should ignore the deep ache in his heart the way she ignored him. He should lock his feelings in the deepest cranny of his mind, and never wander there. He should… but he couldn't. Every time he tried, the ache worsened. The hurt worsened. So he stopped and bared the pain, consoling himself with the fact that at least Lily Evans would never know how much she hurt him every time she refused to meet his pleading gaze. Pulling out his wand, he lit the tip with a whisper and crept down the stone cold stairs. The empty common room was empty, the fire flickering, as its last dying embers wrought their ghost upon the floor, the smoke snaking up into the chimney like a velvet ribbon. James kept walking. He knew where he had to go. His ears alert, he stepped out through the password hole into the dark corridor, his wand casting a small glow, elongating his thin shadow. He crept quietly, listening for the sound of someone, someone who would catch him, someone who would stop him… But the corridors were empty, the sound of snoring knights in the picture frames masking his dull footsteps. Taking the twists and turns of the vast castle, James wound his way to the infirmary. With a quick whisper, he put out his glowing wand and crept to the far corner of the room. There, in one of the beds, lay Lily Evans. In her peaceful sleep, she looked so beautiful. Her auburn hair glinting in the moon light that shone through the large window by her bed. He pink lips, slightly parted, the slow rise and fall of her shoulders as she traveled through the land of dreams. Taking a look around, James pulled off the invisibility cloak, his hazel eyes burning with unshed tears. Nobody knew he visited her. Nobody realized that he hadn't slept in the past week because ever since Lily had been petrified he had come to visit her. Nobody knew, and somehow, that made his time with her more special. Walking over to the vase that stood on her bedside table, James replaced the wilted flowers with new ones. Taking the roses, he plucked the buds off the stems, throwing open the window, he threw the lifeless flowers out the window into the wind and watched as they spiraled down into the lake. Someone would find them, but no one would know. Then, he sat on the corner of Lily's bed, his eyes staring at the window, the ache in his heart somehow more distant.

"I love you Lily," he whispered, more to himself than the sleeping girl. "You don't know it, but I love you so much. Every time I hurt Snivellus…" he took a deep breath "It's because I don't want you to love him." He sat there silently for a moment as his words sunk into him "I hate him because you like him… is that fair?"

The girl didn't move.

"I suppose not, you're right. You're always right. Sometimes it bothers me, because I wish I could be right just to impress you. But then I realize that's one of the things I love about you."

Silence again, the wind whistled outside and ruffled James' hair. Walked over to the window, he shut it, his eyes never leaving Lily's face.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming up the stair case. His heart in his throat, he grabbed his invisibility cloak off the floor and threw it over his head. Three people in tall black hats came up the steps into the hospital wing, they were carrying a stretcher. His heart pounding, James, ducked into the corner by Lily's bed to watch. With the creak of a door, Madam Pomfrey appeared, her dressing gown billowing as she walked briskly, her bun askew. "Another one?" she whispered dramatically.

"Sadly yes," Dumbledore answered as he walked over to the struggling wizards and with a flick of his wand, the body that had been on the stretcher floated into one of the comfy beds as the blanket bustled about tucking it in. As the boy rolled over, James caught a glimpse of his face; it was Tommy Jones, the boy in his ear that always managed to make his cauldron spontaneously explode every potions class. The boy's face was frozen in the expression that could only be described as something between shock and fear.

**Please tell me what you think... I would really love that. **

**Hope you enjoyed my story, I will try to continue posting more of it soon. **

*ilovethereforeiAM... Alessandra Moore*


	2. Dark times

"How does this keep happening?" Madam Pomfrey asked, her voice quivering with fear.

"It seems as though the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, his perpetual calm spreading through the room as he spoke.

"Is it a student?" one of the warlocks asked, straightening his hat which had bent over.

"It must be," Dumbledore answered.

"What do we do?"

"We ponder," Dumbledore answered and gathered his long robes as he stepped around the stretcher. Realizing that they would get no more from the wise wizard, the warlocks shuffled out of the hospital wing, their eyes downcast. He paused at the doorway, letting all the warlocks pass him, his silver half moon spectacles winking in the bright moonlight and with a smile and a flick of his wand, the hospital wing was once more in semi darkness, each shadow long and haunting.

James stood up quietly, his ears once more taut, listening for a sound. With a parting glance at Lily, he took his leave, lithely sneaking out of the hospital wing and trooping into his bed just as the clock on his little nightstand struck three. Three hours with you will never be enough, James thought as folded his invisibility cloak and lay on his covers. Suddenly, almost like a creeping fog, the ache began to grow once more, and with a sigh James felt his fatigue crash over him like the ocean thirsting for its revenged as it quenched the sailor's only hopes with a mighty sweep. And just like that, with the sun coming up on the horizon and casting a warm pink glow over the black lake, James drifted off to sleep.


	3. Morning Comes

**Hey Guys. So due to the overwhelming amount of people that responded... thanks to all the 40 people that subscribed to me and the 25 people that messaged me or emailed me... I have decided to continue. Origionally this was just going to be a one-shot but now I'm going to try and post a lot. I will. I hope :). **

About five hours later, James awoke from a fitful sleep completely tangled in his bed sheets. He heard Sirius' whoops of joy as his friend did a bit of an impromptu jig next to the large Christmas tree that stood in their room. "Come see what we got, mate!" he called to James.

His mind still sluggish, James slid out from his bed and walked unsteadily towards Sirius who looked up suspiciously. "What's wrong?" he motioned to the tree "Presents are here…"

"I know, I'm just so tired… Ugh…" James moaned.

"Maybe if you didn't sneak out every night…" Sirius gave James a knowing glance.

His words acting like a splash of cold water, James was instantly awake "What do you mean?" he spluttered. "I don't sneak out," he added, slightly less aggressively.

"Okay," Sirius rolled his eyes as if forfeiting. "Come open your presents," he added and pulled a parcel out from behind the tree. With a slight sigh of happiness he opened the box, ripping the pretty striped wrapping paper and lobbing it into the fire. But what was inside turned out not what he expected.

'_SIRIUS BLACK!' _the parcel shrieked. _HOW DARE YOU SEND YOUR FATHER THAT TOILET SEAT! IGNORANT LITTLE PRAT! NO RESPECT FOR YOUR PARENTS! WHY CAN"T YOU BE MORE LIKE REGALAUS? FIRST GETTING SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR, NOW THIS… YOU ARE A SHAME TO THE BLACK NAME! _ the parcel exclaimed, its voice ringing through the room.

Smirking, Sirius stuffed the struggling parcel into the fireplace and lay down on the floor his body shaking with silent laughter, tears leaking out of his eyes.

Recovering from his shock, James decided to join on the laughter "Who was that?" he asked, completely confused. Whoever it was seemed to really hate Sirius. Sirius held up his hand, still laughing, clutching his stomach with the other. "That," he paused whether for dramatic effect or laughter "is my dearest mother."

"She… she…she seems nice," James said quickly thanking his lucky stars that his mother was indeed not like that.

"Are you kidding? She's horrid. Absolutely despises me," he grinned as if the thought made him cheerful and grabbed a striped box of candy that lay askew under the tree.

"Has she always… been like that?" James asked, carefully unwrapping a small parcel from his grandmother.

"Ever since I was born. They used to say I 'just didn't have the Black spirit'. Scrawny gits. But, what can you expect? They are from Slytherin…" he shrugged and met James' leveled gaze. Even though the two of them had only been at Hogwarts for a little less than four months, they both knew how annoying the Slytherins were.

After having opened all their presents, Sirius and James sauntered into the great hall where they ate a large breakfast. For the next three hours, they spent their time outside playing an odd version of a snowball fight where they used their wands to pelt all passersby with snowballs until a large enough group of third years who had been hit and were not the least bit amused began to fight back. At which time, Sirius declared that admitting defeat was quite a brave thing to do and the two of them sprinted all the way back to the Gryffindor common room, each one promising himself that next time, they would be more prepared. The two of them slightly worn out, James and Sirius decided to sit by the warm fire watching it crackle merrily along the logs.

The rest of the day ran by faster than the seconds on James' new pocket watch and soon enough, he once more lay on his warm bed waiting for Sirius to fall asleep. As soon as he heard the familiar snores echoing from his neighbors' bed, James slid out from his covers and scampered to the hospital wing, a small wrapped parcel bobbing in his hands under the invisibility cloak.

**Really hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. **

**Reviews are my bread and butter :). **

***IheartthereforeIAM... Alessandra Moore***


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